--drink your coffee! Not a bad
plan, after all, to start before the heat of the day comes on, only it
is a wonderfully energetic proceeding! Have you come to shop, or are you
anxious about Hubert? I went to his rooms the other day and saw him. He
is weak; but he is quite sensible now, you know."

"Who was there?" said Enid, setting down her cup with a new color in her
cheeks.

Miss Vane looked at her sharply.

"Oh, the nurse of course--a Beechfield woman, I believe, recommended by
Florence! I saw no one else, not even the Jenkinses, who, I hear, have
been most devoted to him in his illness."

Enid dropped her eyes. She did not care just then to ask any questions
about Cynthia West. If Miss Vane knew the story, she evidently
considered it unfit for Enid's ears.

"And now, my dear, what brings you to town," said aunt Leo briskly, when
the meal was ended, and Enid had been installed on a comfortable sofa,
where she was ordered to "lie still and rest;" "and how did you induce
Richard and Flossy to let you come?"

"I ought perhaps to have told you as soon as I came in, aunt Leo," said
Enid, sitting up, "that nobody knew--that, in fact, I have run away from
Beechfield, and that I never, never can go back!"

"Oh," said Miss Vane, "that's rather sudden, is it not? But I suppose
you have a reason?"

"Yes, aunt Leo, but one which--at present--I cannot tell."

"Cannot tell, Enid, my dear?"

"Not just yet--not until I have consulted some one else."

"Oh, Hubert, I suppose?"

"No," said Enid, blushing and holding down her head--"not Hubert."

Miss Vane put up her gold-rimmed eye-glasses, and inspected her for a
minute or two.

"You look as if you had been worried out of your life!" she said. "You
are as thin as a thread-paper! Well, you will not be worried here, my
child. You can stay as long as you like, and tell me everything or
nothing, as you please. One thing I will say--I suppose Flossy is at
the bottom of it all?"

"Yes, aunt Leo."

"That accounts for everything. Flossy never could be trusted. Did she
want you to be engaged to Hubert?"

"I think so--at first. Now I do not know."

"I suppose they badgered you into it?" said Miss Vane thoughtfully. "Are
you going on with it?"--in her usual abrupt tone.

"With the engagement, aunt Leo? Oh, no!"

"Come--that's a good thing!" said aunt Leo briskly. "For I don't think
Hubert is quite worthy of you, my dear. He has disappointed me rather.
Well, I won't bot